Eight of 116 Faridabad panchayats for liquor vend ban

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 19

Only eight of the 116 village panchayats in the district have sought a ban on liquor vends within their area for the next one year. This is just 6.9 per cent of the villages, down from 8.6 per cent last year.

Sources in the Excise Department said only eight village panchayats had submitted their resolutions to the department for 2020-21, the last date for which was January 15.

The panchayats are Dadasia, Harfala, Sadpura, Manjhawali, Mandhawali, Bahadurpur, Piyala and Karnera. The panchayats submitted their resolutions between December 27 and 31 last year.

Though 10 village panchayats had applied for the ban in 2019-20, the resolutions of only three villages were accepted.

“The resolution is accepted only in case the village has not reported any case of illegal supply or consumption of illicit liquor in the past one year,” said Suman Sindhu, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner.

She said eight resolutions had been submitted and scrutiny would be conducted next month to see how many panchayats were eligible for exemption.

“We are aware of the negative aspect of liquor, but enforcing a complete ban can promote an illicit liquor mafia,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

In Palwal district, 36 panchayats applied for a ban this time. Seven of the 49 villages which had applied last year were found eligible.